THE BOOK OF POULTRY 



Like all other black fowls, the Java 

 " sports " occasionally into white. From some 

 of these sports a white Java has been produced 

 in the United States ; and from others, or by 

 crossing these whites with the black, a mottled 

 colour, much resembling- that of the Houdan. 



THE RHODE ISLAND RED. 

 It would appear, from available data, that 

 this distinctly useful and beautiful fowl had 

 its origin some half a century ago in a cross 

 between the old Shanghai, the Chittagong, and 

 the Red Malay, the males of those old breeds 

 being mated with the female fowls already 

 existing at Little Compton, Rhode Island, the 



Rhode Island Red Cock. 

 (The property of Mrs. F. Cooper, Brailsford, Derby.) 



most extensive of the group of isles situated 

 in the famous Narragansett Bay, the foreign 

 poultry having been undoubtedly brought to 

 Rhode by the vessels plying to the island. 



The American Standard expresses the 

 belief that the Rhode Island Red "originated 

 from crosses of the Asiatics, Mediterraneans, 

 and Games," and it is stated on good authority 

 that the brown Leghorn entered largely into 

 the composition of later types. Be that as it 

 may, the present-day Rhode Island Red is the 

 result of fifty years of out-crossing, hence the 



difficulty still experienced to breed the fowl 

 true to colour. That the object of the old 

 farmers of Rhode Island was, from the com- 

 mencement, to produce a fowl conforming to 

 specified pure-breed characteristics may be dis- 

 missed as being highly improbable, since they 

 apparently simply strove for the elimination of 

 feathered legs, and the producton of a bird 

 having a " carcass " that found a ready sale in 

 the Boston and other markets ; and it was not 

 until the fancier turned his attention to the 

 fowl that it took on some resemblance of 

 definite form. 



Originally the Rhode Island Red rejoiced 

 in the cognomen of the " Billy Tripp " and 

 " John Macomber " fowl, a fact that was 

 alluded to in a report issued by the Rhode 

 Island Experiment Station in 1901. Writing 

 in that publication. Captain B. E. Tripp, son 

 of the original William Tripp, says : " To begin 

 with, as far back as 1854 John Macomber, of 

 Westport (living near what is now called 

 Central Village, but then called Westport 

 townhouse), and my father, William Tripp, 

 both of them, ran teams to New Bedford as 

 marketmen. They took the matter in hand to 

 see if they could not, by crossing different 

 strains of fowls, get better layers than the 

 fowls in the surrounding country, and also 

 better looking poultry for the market. The 

 result of their trials was the production of the 

 so-called Rhode Island Reds of to-day. Pre- 

 vious to that they were called the ' John 

 Macomber ' or the ' Tripp ' fowls." It will, 

 therefore, be gathered that the Rhode Island 

 Red was a local race of poultry found ex- 

 clusively in Rhode Island, produced by the 

 farmers themselves without any definite breed- 

 ing, and from uncertain and probably various 

 materials. Some of the birds were smooth- 

 legged, some slightly feathered, a few more 

 heavily feathered ; and single, rose, and pea- 

 combs were found. This local stock was very 

 hardy, very prolific, and good for table accord- 

 ing to American ideas; and in 1879 or 1880 

 a Mr. Jenny seems to have exhibited them 

 under their present name at a show in Southern 

 Massachusetts. Subsequently they w^ere written 

 of as " Reds " and as " Golden Buffs " Dr. 

 Aldrich staging them under the latter name at 

 the show of the Rhode Island Poultry Asso- 

 ciation in 1 891 ; the old and previous name of 

 Rhode Island Reds only re-appearing at an- 

 other show held in the island in 1895, when 

 a Mr. Browning, of Natick, exhibited speci- 

 mens under that name. 



Although the Rhode Island Red has for 

 many years flourished in America as an ex- 



